


Drabble Collection

by solidsnakessolidcakes



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Drabbles, M/M, vauely sad bois
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2019-10-29 02:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17799197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solidsnakessolidcakes/pseuds/solidsnakessolidcakes
Summary: mostly mgs tbh. Just gonna be things that I think of that are too short for its own book/doesn't fit into any of my current books.





	1. Chapter 1

Eli stared at the small pixels of the black-and-white image, seemingly entranced.

It was the only thing they managed to find among the ash of Mantis' old home, one of the few things not completely burnt or washed away. Upon seeing it Mantis had frozen up, before leaving quickly without a word.

But his feelings spoke for themselves.

Through their link Eli felt a terrifying storm of overwhelming emotions, all in one monstrous package. Rage, hatred, love, endearment, and passion all packed into one. But there was one emotion that trumped them all. An emotion that Eli had spent years trying to get Mantis to not feel anymore. A thing burned into his mind forever.

Self-hatred.

It was a sickening churning feeling in the pit of his stomach, and now he was staring at the picture that had gotten his lover, his partner, so upset.

And he certainly saw it.

The young woman in the photo was Mantis.

It wasn't really Mantis, of course, but over a period of time Eli had memorized the face of his best friend. Even the long gone blood-red curls that used to frame his face.

And the woman staring back at him had everything right. The soft jaw, the wide set eyes, the curly hair that looked frizzy if you focused. Her nose was a button nose, and although Eli didn't know what kind of nose his friend would have it seemed to fit, imagining him with one.

If he closed his eyes he could see the woman with color.

Bright crimson hair that looked like the color of fire or blood. Gentle silvery-blue eyes that shone when caught by the light. Pale skin that looked near sickly. She even had the wiry eyebrows of his boyfriend.

His mouth twitched into a smile before he came to a realization, the smile immediately falling.

This woman was Mantis' mother.

He never spoke of his mother, if anything it was a less common topic than his father. And they never really talked about Mantis' dad. He knew very, very little about his partner's parents, which was, to say the least, strange.

He knew his father was abusive and hated him, he even saw the memories for himself. And he knew his mother died in child birth.

The woman in the image had died giving birth to his boyfriend.

He felt strangely comforted at the thought. That he wasn't the only one willing to die for Mantis.

He smiled sadly, stuffing the slightly charred picture into his pocket before getting up for dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not really a drabble because it's pretty long but fuck it.  
> Warnings: depictions of mental breakdowns, depictions of violence

David always woke up at 6:00, sharp. He was always up and ready for the day by 6:10, after a seven minute shower, two minute stretches, and one minute of grabbing clothes.

Today that broke.

David woke up at 5:38, thanks to some loud creaking out in the living room. Assuming that everyone would still be asleep he grabbed his gun and threw on a shirt, and was ready and out there (unshowered) by 5:39.

Out in the living room was his blond twin, holding his head as if he were trying to focus on something and pacing like his life would end if he stopped.

"Liquid, go back to bed," David grumbled, putting on the safety but not dropping the gun.

"Dave! I ah, ...Have you seen Mantis at all?" Liquid asked nervously, looking up. He was still wearing the baggy pajama pants that had little bugs on it (it used to be his boyfriend's) with his glasses shoved haphazardly on his face.

"Goddamn, you look like a mess," Dave breathed, before looking into his clear blue eyes, "No, I haven't. Doesn't he sleep in your bed, with you?"

"Y-Yeah, um, well, I woke up around... forty-five minutes ago and didn't find Mantis. I thought he went for a drink or something so I went to find him, but he wasn't there... He's not even out of the porch," Liquid chewed on his bottom lip, a nervous habit that Dave had never seen before. Then again, he had never seen his over-confident twin nervous.

"Maybe he went out?" He suggested, rubbing his eye gently.

"No," Liquid responded almost immediately.

"How can you be sure?" Dave narrowed his eyes, growing irritated.

"I... I can feel it," He said slowly. Dave rolled his eyes.

"Sure, whatever. Don't come and thank me when all your worrying is for nothing and he's back here before dawn," He turned to go back to his room. Hal got cranky when he was gone too long.

"Wait! Dave! You don't understand! I- I can  _feel_ him," Liquid stuttered, brushing a hand through his long hair.

"I don't even know what you're saying, next thing you're gonna tell me is that he used to have long hair," He shook his head.

""Well, he did. It was bright red. Anyway, um, did I ever tell you about how the two of us met? Or how long ago?"

"No, of course not."

"Well, we met when I was twelve, actually. He had made friends with a guy that hated Big Boss and wanted revenge, so obviously we ended up meeting. He said he was drawn to my hatred, or something. Anyway, he kinda, like, made home in my head? I guess? He didn't know English at the time, so we needed to communicate somehow. So, we have this things that's like, an emotional link. Like, psychological. He's in my head and I'm in his. But... I... I can't... I can't feel him," He rambled on happily, but at the end he started trailing off, looking down to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.

"So you're worried that he died?" Dave filled in, exhaling slowly. He nodded silently, looking up at his brother with wide, clear blue eyes that were welling up with fat tears.

"Ooooh, god, alright. Hal got a tip that there was a group formulating a sort of collar ankle bracelet thing that disabled psychic ability. I think that they kidnapped him to try and test it. That's why you can't feel him, or whatever," He ran a hand over his face.

When he looked at his brother the first thing he noticed was his expression. He hadn't seen it on his face before, the wrinkled nose and furrowed eyebrows, the pursed lips that looked almost like he was smiling.

The second thing he noticed was that he was crying.

He had never in his life seen his brother cry. He hadn't seen anyone in his family cry. But there he was, standing right in front of him, tears streaming down his face in large globs.

"He... He..." Liquid mumbled helplessly, hugging himself loosely. He looked so  _broken._

"It's fine, he's plenty capable. I've seen him, he'll be fine," Dave tried to comfort, scooting away awkwardly.

"But what about his powers!? He can't fight without them!" The blond wailed, clenching his eyes shut.

"Ah-- W-Well, he can..." he trailed off, a little disturbed at seeing his brother cry.

His face had grown red and blotchy, and his tears had fallen on his glasses a couple times. He was sniffling loudly, furiously rubbing the butt of his palm against one of his eyes. He was not a pretty crier.

When another door in the place they were staying opened it felt like Dave simultaneously was relieved and also had a heart attack. Upon looking up he saw Miller standing in the other hallway, Ahab standing behind him. Neither had bothered to put on prosthetics.

"What happened?" Miller asked, limping toward Liquid, who was still crying.

"Uh, well, Mantis went missing. I think someone captured him to test out this new thing that shuts down psychic abilities," Dave explained, watching with slight curiosity as Miller tried to comfort his brother. He forgot that he had known both of them.

"It's gonna be  _fine,_ Eli. He can take care of himself," The second blond said, using Liquid's first name. He merely sniffled loudly in response.

* * *

Mantis hadn't come back yet. It had been nearly a week. Dave was half glad that they had this "family gathering" (Ocelot and Hal arranged it, the bastards) for three months, he was sure Liquid would refuse to leave without Mantis.

Liquid hadn't gotten much better. He hid in his room most days and if he didn't it was almost guaranteed that he would start crying. He hadn't even touched his contact lenses, to lazy to even think about putting in effort to anything, especially not his appearance. He had fallen into this strange, depression like pit.

Dave tried to brush it off, for the most part. Of course Hal was a different story. Sometimes Dave felt like he was too empathetic.

He would bring Liquid his food when he didn't come for meals, and whenever he had a breakdown he would either get someone to help or do it himself.

Liquid would often sleep through days, sometimes not even touching food. At one point Ocelot and Hal had to wake him up and force feed him because he had gone three days without eating. Even Sunny had gotten worried, despite her lack of knowledge about the situation.

Hal had gotten so worried that he even thought about it when he should be sleeping. How does Dave know?

Because one night, when Dave was trying to sleep, Hal started talking.

"Babe, do you think maybe... we should follow that lead, and maybe rescue Mantis? I-I mean, Liquid is so upset and..."

"Hal, you worry too much. It's none of our business, Mantis'll show up eventually," Dave mumbled into his neck, still holding him like a teddy bear. A very bony teddy bear.

"But, he was really thin before, and I doubt he's much better, and sometimes Eli--"

"When did you start calling him that?" He popped his head up.

"I... don't really know. Why does it matter?"

"Because. Only a few people are allowed to call him that."

"You think it's too personal?"

"Of course!"

"Dave, sweetheart, it's fine. He's your brother. You say that like I would cheat on you. Or he would cheat on Mantis, for that matter."

"Hrngh, fine," He mumbled, putting his head back against his lover's neck.

"Anyway, sometimes Eli would mention how Mantis could barely throw a punch. I doubt he'll be able to get out on his own," He reasoned, starting to run a hand through Dave's hair.

"Mph... so you want me to...?"

"I... was thinking maybe you could infiltrate the place...? Bust him out and destroy all research and prototypes?"

"...You're so lucky I love you."

"You'll do it!?" Hal sat up quickly, effectively hitting Dave in the face with his bony ribs.

"Ugh, yes, calm down. We're gonna need to do some more digging on that company, but yes, I'll do it."

"Thank you, Dave! I love you!" He pressed a kiss to his ear.

"Mph, lay back down..."

* * *

It was the next week when Dave went out. Liquid hadn't gotten better at all, if anything he was getting worse, now doing everything he could to surround himself with Mantis that it became unhealthy. He even put on a shirt. Of course it was Mantis', but that didn't stop him. If anything it was what drove him.

The mission had gone off without a hitch so far. He had managed to successfully infiltrate the office, tranq all the guards and destroy all info. Now all that was left was to find and rescue Mantis and destroy all prototypes.

He carefully made his way through the small base-like research facility, managing to avoid guards along the way. He inserted the stolen key-card into the slot. It slid open, revealing a rather disturbing scene.

The walls were streaked with bright red blood, most of which looked like hand prints. There was a large tub of water near the middle of the room that had more blood around it, as well as water splashed across the room stained like watercolor with blood.

And then in the corner. That was where a small cell was. In fact, it was so small the body inside was cramped into a small ball. And it sure looked like a body.

It was covered with blood and even puke, pale skin barely shining against the red and yellow. And in its lap laid a gas mask.

He furrowed his eyebrows, rather disturbed. Lying in the cell, likely  _dead_ _,_ was his brother's boyfriend. Hal had gone silent over codec.

He took a deep breath, trusting that he would still be alive as he started to pick the lock. Once he did he reached forward, trying to ignore the gross squelch of bodily fluids or the small chunks that he assumed were from bile against his arm. Instead he focused on the fact that the body was still warm. Of course it was unnaturally warm, but that was even more promising. Liquid had mentioned on more than one occasion that he essentially acted as a space heater.

He set the presumably alive body down against the wall, carefully fastening the gas mask to his face. From there he grabbed his leg, hefting it up onto his own leg. He examined the small ankle bracelet fastened tightly against the bony leg, trying to figure out how to get it off.

Of course there was no way to do it other than cut it. _Of course._ He took a deep breath, grabbing his knife and starting to try and hack through the clunky metal and wires. It was _not_ easy.

Eventually he managed to cut through it with only nicking the skin underneath. It was probably the least of his injuries though.

From there he started to try and shake him awake, grabbing him by the shoulders carefully to try and not slam his head against the metal wall. He needed him to be awake so that he didn't have to leave him here.

He heard the codec ring before answering it purely on instinct. He knew Hal was the only one with the frequency anyway.

"Dave! Eli is crying! What do I do?" He asked, voice filled with panic.

"I don't know!" He answered honestly, still trying to get Mantis to wake up, "Aren't you the one who's been comforting him the past couple weeks?"

"Well, yeah, but this is a different kind of crying! He seems... I don't know, happy?"

"Then why are you trying to stop him?"

"Because seeing people crying makes me upset!"

"Christ, Hal," He grumbled, shaking Mantis for a second longer before suddenly his wrist was grabbed.

He jumped back in surprise, the bony fingers of the man in front of him showing no mercy as they tightened, eyes barely visible behind the yellow lenses of the gas mask narrowing.

Eventually his arm was dropped, breaths rasping from the mask deepening.

"So you came to find me?" He asked, his voice sounding raw and tired.

"Yeah. Liquid got pretty fucked up over you disappearing."

"I can tell. He does that every time i don't tell him where I'm going, although on a much smaller scale."

"Mph. Well, I need to destroy all the prototypes and then we'll get out of here," He got up, letting the taller man stand up as well. he was a little surprised that he didn't bother to float, at first.

"Too tired to," He filled in, silently starting to walk to the other room. Dave followed closely, finding a room filled with boxes.

"Set the explosives, or whatever you need to do," The other man said softly, obviously tired from speaking so much. Or rather, screaming. That's what Dave assumed it was.

He set the C4, walking Mantis out of the building and a little ways before setting it off.

* * *

Needless to say, Liquid and Mantis were practically attached for the next few weeks. More attached than usual, at least.

Liquid had went back to normal within the week, and Dave was sure that the sound-proof walls had saved everyone many hours of sleep on more than one occasion. Although repulsed at the idea of children, Mantis seemed to have no problem with gay sex.

The morning after Mantis had returned he had woken up to find the two passed out on the couch, tangled up in each other's limbs. It was strangely nice, knowing that the two had at least one person that cared about them.

 


	3. Chapter 3

To say Eli was a little ticked that he somehow, for unexplained reasons because author doesn't have one, he was facing off against Big Boss was a bit of an understatement. At the very least they could've pinned him against an actual formidable opponent, like his _real_ dad.

He took a deep breath, gripping his SOCOM tighter.

"You," He spoke with bitterness in his voice, pointedly ignoring that they were standing across the field from each other like they were gonna do an over dramatic duel like in Ocelot's weird movies.

"Hello, Eli," The other man greeted carefully, an evil (no literally, he looked fucking evil) smirk spreading across his face.

"Don't call me that," He spat, tightening his grip on his gun.

"Ah, I thought you trusted me. You said so yourself, after all."

"That wasn't you! That was _father_! Not you, you fucking liar!"

"You're quite strange, you. You're somehow even less useful than your brothers," John cracked a smile again, "Must have something to do with your _genes_ , huh, Eli?"

"Stop it," Eli ordered, wrinkling his nose.

"Shame they didn't just kill you off. Your... recessive mind holds no usefulness to us."

" _Stop,_ " Eli repeated, curling his finger around the trigger.

"Do it. Shoot me. I'm sure that you can do it. You were born a monster, after all. No matter what you or that _phony_ tells you, you're a demon. You're meant to destroy the world. Bring it to ruins. You're not my son. You can't be, with problems like that," John reached for his own gun.

Without hesitation, Eli shot. He was so tired of this man's bullshit.

" _Stop_! Just _stop_!" He shouted, swiping his hair away from his face.

"But, Eli, I'm your father," He said in a mocking tone, easily avoiding the bullet.

"No you're bloody not! You'll never, ever be my father!" Eli screamed. He absent mindedly wondered where Mantis was.

"You're just weak. You can't do shit! Of course you would go to that phony. Do you wanna know what he was before I made him?"

"I already know! He was a medic! A peaceful, hardworking medic and you wiped that all away!" Eli felt tears prick his eyes.

"Ah, then you know he was weak. He did little to nothing for me, why I chose him... Ugh, I shouldn't have," John shook his head.

"He had a family! He had younger siblings! He had parents! And you took that from him!" Eli was slowly getting louder.

"Eli--"

"No! Stop! I don't care what you say! You're not Big Boss! You never will be!"

"Excuse me?" John glared.

"Ocelot told me about her. Told me about your predecessor. Tell me, you think she would be proud?" He knew his voice was shaking but at this point he didn't care. John seemed off guard. He found a weak spot.

"That's none of your business," John shot back, gripping his gun tighter.

"Even Emmerich's mom told me. She was kind, she was compassionate, she wanted peace! But you... You just want war! You just want it to go on and on forever! Did you really misread her will so much you were blinded by your own ideologies!?

John glared harder.

"You're not Big Boss. You never will be. You don't deserve the title. But he does," Eli said, getting ready to shoot again.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because he's the same as she was! He wanted peace, he was kind! He wanted to cure people, not shoot them!" Eli raised his gun.

"You don't know that!"

"But I do! That man is still in there! He told me about himself! His name was Vicen--" His sentence was cut off by a shot.

It barreled right past his leg and buried itself in the ground.

"He had three younger sisters and four younger brothers! He was the oldest of the bunch and always took care of them, even after their dad died! He became a medic to save people like his dad! He wanted to save people dying on the battlefield!"

And with that, the real fight began.

John dropped his gun and tackled Eli, and he weighed a hell of a lot more than him. Both because John was taller and because Eli was the slimmest of the Snakes.

He heard his gun clatter to the floor, but he was too focused on trying to get around two hundred pounds of man off him.

Once he finally did he cursed himself for never learning CQC.

So he grabbed his gun again. And focused on John's knees.

How he won the fight and lived to tell the tale... Well, he didn't really know. But he sure was glad he got to beat the shit out of Big Boss without everyone being like "TIME FOR A NEW CODE NAME... HM... BIGGER BOSS."

One of the perks of being solo, he assumed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used google translate for all the Russian dialogue so it's gonna be off.

The strange thing about being linked to a psychic is that apparently neither of you could die. This was also apparently true if you were the mother to a psychic. How did Eli get to this conclusion? Because standing right in front of him was a woman with blood red hair, silvery blue eyes and a copious amount of freckles. Long story short, she looked exactly like Mantis if he still had hair and an in tact face, which he did now.

"... Kto ty?" She had a thick accent and spoke in what Eli could only assume to be Russian.

"Ah-- I'm sorry, I speak English," Eli said, tempted to add the other languages he knew. That lead him to wonder why he never learned Russian. Mantis was Russian, and so was Ocelot...

"Kakiye?" She sounded confused, "Ya govoryu tol'ko po Russki."

He took a deep breath.

"Mantis!" He yelled, startling the woman visibly.

In an instant the aforementioned man appeared, his thick red hair flashing at the edge of Eli's line of sight.

"What?" He asked, sounding mildly irritated, "I was looking at a cool bug."

"I don't know Russian and this lady seems to only speak that."

"Why does she look like me?"

"I was hoping you could explain."

"You hoped too much," Mantis retorted, his now uncovered blue eyes scanning the woman.

"Ah, ty pokhozh na menya. Ty... Adrien?" Mantis visibly tensed at the woman's words, which Eli still couldn't understand.

"Da, ya veryu. Kto ty?" Mantis responded, his words a little slow thanks to his lack of use of the language.

"Ah! Adrien! Ya tvoya mama! Yesli... ty tot, o kom ya dumayu. Um... Kak zovut tvoyego ottsa?"

"Mama? Mantis?" Eli looked over at his lover.

"Yego zvali Albert. Ty moya mama? Moya mama umerla."

"Da! Vot pochemu ya zdes', gluppy. Moy... Ya nikogda ne dumal, chto smogu vstretit' syna! I on tak pokhozh na menya! Ah, deystcitel'no schastlivyy den'!" The woman rambled, her cheeks dusting with red in what appeared to be happiness.

"Mantis? Translation, please?" Eli asked, a little mad at himself for never learning his boyfriend's language.

"This woman is claiming to be my mother," Mantis spoke, with surprisingly little bitterness in his voice.

"Well? Do you believe her?"

"Somewhat... We do look alike. Strangely so, in fact. My dad did mention I looked like my mom... Anyway, yes, I believe her. I don't have a reason to not."

"So that's your mom? Holy shit. I never thought I would meet her. Kinda sucks she only speak Russian, though."

"Ah, I'll just auto translate everything now."

"Um, do you mind me asking who that other man is?" Now that the woman was speaking English, it was a lot easier to hear her voice. It was high pitched and sweet, but still very heavily accented. Eli tried to ignore how much it reminded him of when he first met Mantis.

"Mom, this is Eli," Mantis said, touching Eli's back lightly.

"Hello, ma'am!" He said, smiling brightly at her.

"Eli, she can't understand you," Mantis whispered, in actual English this time.

"Eh? Well, do you mind telling me why he's here? He seems awfully nice," the woman smiled, brushing her curls away from her face.

"Um..." Mantis seemed uncertain, "He's my... um, He's my husband."

Eli tightened his grip on Mantis' hand, silently praying the woman had a good enough heart to not flip her shit.

"Husband?" The woman repeated, blinking slowly, "I have two sons!?"

"Um... yesssss...?"

"Oh, what a joyous time to be alive! Er, well, dead, I guess. Adrien, do you mind telling me what language he speaks? I would like to talk to him without need of a translator," Eli was still put off at the use of Mantis' real name. They always avoided talking about that stuff. Hell, he only knew what is was thanks to documents they burned right after.

"He speaks English, Kikongo, Spanish, French, Malay, and Arabic."

"Wow. He's very smart! But he still never bothered to learn Russian? How strange..."

"Here, if you want I could go into your head and turn on an auto translator. It'll seem like every word coming out of his mouth is Russian."

"Go into my head? Ah, I would not need surgery, no?"

"No, of course not. Mother, I'm a psychic. I don't know if i explained that to you."

"Psychic? My son is a psychic! My, this is all just too much privilege for me! Yes, you may go into my head."

Mantis smiled a little bit before leaning up again Eli and closing his eyes. If he didn't know better Eli would've thought he was settling down for a nap.

"Hello," He said once he was sure Mantis had done it.

"Hello there! It's very nice to meet you! Eli, yes?" Her accent somehow seemed thicker when he was addressed directly.

"Ah, yeah. Say, you don't have... a problem, with Mantis and I both being men?" Eli wrapped an arm around Mantis' waist, since he had obviously decided that taking a nap was a good idea.

"Mantis? You mean Adrien? No, I have no problem with it. You make each other happy, yes?" Her eyes were even brighter than Mantis'.

"Um, yeah. Or, well, he makes me really happy, and he seems happier with me than not, so... I don't know," Eli shuffled.

"Well, his father, Albert, my husband. He made me very happy. Many people didn't want us to get married, because he was such a hateful man. But we did, because he made me happy. And that's what matters, yes?"

"Uh... Yeah, yeah I guess so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Who are you?"  
> "What? I only speak Russian"  
> "Ah, you look like me. Are you... Adrien?
> 
> "Yes, I am. Who are you?"
> 
> "Ah! Adrien, I am your mother! If... you are who I think you are. Um... what is your father's name?"
> 
> "His name was Albert. You're my mother? My mom died."
> 
> "Yes! That's why I'm here, silly. My... I never thought I would meet my son! And he looks so much like me! A happy day indeed!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bold means it's in kikongo. Damn google translate for not having it :/

To say fighting off an entire army with merely a fraction of a unit was the dumbest thing Eli ever did would be true. Eli might be idiotic, but he's not dumb enough to top fighting off  _an entire army_ with a  _fraction of a unit._

In case you hadn't deduced this yet, Eli was currently trying to fight off an army with only him, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven and his dearly beloved, Psycho Mantis. Where Decoy Octopus has disappeared to, he didn't bother to question it. He didn't have _time_ to. Actually, where was Mantis? He wasn't floating above the crowd like usual, and normally Eli would've gotten a comment on calling him anything at all cheesy.

Holy shit,  _where was Mantis?_ He was so panicked he only snapped back into reality when he found himself soaring through the air before landing on his back.

Standing over him was an enemy soldier, and well, they were also literally all around him. Before the aforementioned soldier could stab him Eli grabbed his wrist, tugging the knife out of his hands and thrusting it into the other man's neck messily. He silently praised V for at least trying to teach him CQC as he used this as leverage to get up quickly.

He continued to search the crowd for his friend, reaching out mentally. Of course, he had to make the same mistake twice, and before he knew it he was being held roughly by one soldier while another prepared to shoot him.

Before he could even process what was happening and come up with a plan he felt an extra arm wrap around him, and before he could think about anything at all he was in the air, flying through it was a surprising amount of speed and grace.

He landed suddenly, yet it was rather soft on his feet. The fact that he was dropped to the ground after the initial landing might have something to do with it.

When he looked up to see who the fuck just sent him soaring through the air he was met with a horrifically familiar face. Splattered across the eyes was a butterfly pattern, and staring right back at him was the face of Quiet.

"Eli, you're stupid," She said matter-of-factly.

"Those are the first words you've ever said to me," He pointed out.

"I bring the truth. Tell me what your allies look like, it would be a shame if I shot them," She moved into her all-too-familiar sniping position. Eli was going to question when the hell she started talking, but decided they could catch up later.

"Ah- bald, gas mask--"

"Yes, Tretij shaved his head."

"It's Mantis now. He was the one who got you? Anyway, the only other one out on the field would be Raven, um, also bald, tattoos, dark skin. Probably carrying a giant canon. Wolf is a sniper, yes you aren't the only one, she she's blonde and has her jacket zipped way down. I can't say much though."

With a slight nod of Quiet's head he was running again, this time to find his way back to the field. Before he could get there he had a sudden rush like blood rushing to one part of your body, Mantis' head back in his.

[Mantis, you got Quiet? I thought she was dead, and also, why would you get Quiet?]

_[To be fair, do you know any better options? Also, I got a lot more than Quiet]_

[What does that mean?]

As if answering his question he saw someone beside him, and before he could shoot them they spoke with such familiarity he almost got sentimental.

"Nyoke ya Mpembe!" He spoke the blond's old code name with a smile and in that second Eli realized what Mantis meant by "a lot more".

That motherfucker brought  _the entire old militia._

_[Very perceptive, Eli.]_

[You brought all of them? Like, all of them?]

_[Yes, Eli. You can have your reunion and introduction after the fight. Which, by the way, it looks like we are winning, now.]_

It was true, they were. Somehow the militia had gotten bigger, and judging by what it looked like they had gotten better, too. Not to mention Quiet is one hell of a sniper.

* * *

On one side of the room stood The Sons of Big Boss, Wolf, Raven and Octopus, in order. On the other side stood a whole thirty person militia and Quiet. In the middle Eli was sitting on a random chair he found while Mantis floated behind him.

"So, you're saying Liquid knew you when he was like, ten?" Wold reiterated, obviously in disbelief.

"And other boy!" Shabani said proudly, pointing at Mantis.

"He was twelve," Quiet informed, adjusting her pose.

"So you guys knew Liquid, and Mantis, when they were twelve?" Octopus asked, seeming a little baffled.

"Yes," Mantis supplied, shifting in mid air.

"Ah! Nyoke ya Mpembe,  **are you and boy together yet?** " Kibuila asked. There was an audible scoff from behind Eli and Eli himself nearly choked on nothing.

" **Yes, why?** "

" **You two were so cute! We all placed bets on when you two would get married. When did you?** "

" **We aren't married,** " Mantis responded irritably, crossing his arms.

"What are you guys saying?" Wolf asked, glancing around the room curiously.

"Don't worry about it," Eli rushed it off, trying to ignore the way his face burned. They placed bets on when him and Mantis would get together? Was he that obvious.

_[Yes.]_

[I wasn't asking you.]

 


	6. Chapter 6

The first mistake he made was crying.

He was the only one that came out like that. The other two clones were silent. _Perfectly_ silent. But Eli was being dramatic from the day he was born, hollering like he was in pain.

"Why is he crying? I thought they were both supposed to be quiet?"

"They are, especially this one. Everyone! Anesthesia! Now!"

"Can't that be lethal for a baby?"

"It'll be fine."

His second mistake was having a mind of his own.

They had the most control over his life. David was essentially thrown to the curb and George was like a kid in preparatory school that they sent notes to, but Eli...

Eli was the one side-by-side with them his whole life. He was one of the last few people to see Zero at full strength, he was one of the few people to see Dr. Clark and know her name. He knew potentially fatal secrets without even knowing it.

But he told. He spoke of them, and he would do so to anyone that would listen. So he got punished.

He was already in a pretty confined "home". He didn't think it could get much worse. He assumed his punishment would only be the shock collar that he had to wear now. Apparently not.

Staring up at a padded white ceiling wasn't fun. At least with the last places they had fun colors or popcorn on the ceiling the he could count. Now the most he could do was squint and try to see the stitches on the pillow-y surface covering the walls floor and roof.

It was _infuriating_.

His third mistake was needing glasses.

"I thought he wasn't supposed to need them? They should've put that in his genetic code.

"David should've been the carrier of that..."

"Maybe he's lying? We should get him some truth serum."

"Isn't that bad for kids?"

"He'll be fine."

His fourth mistake was not being strong enough. Not physically, he could do any exercise they gave him with the ease of a fully grown man.

But, emotionally...

They were trying something new with him today. They were actually sending him out into the wild. Of course, they would be monitoring every step he took, and as soon as he stepped out of bounds the chock collar would go off.

They sent him into a troubled area, but nothing too dangerous. Nothing they couldn't get him out of.

He was supposed to raid this village. It was fully functioning, the only problem was that some soldiers took up residence there. But they had said to kill _everyone_ , including any civilians. So that's what he did.

It was his first taste of real human blood running between his fingers. It was thrilling.

The blood came out a deep scarlet, and as it stained his hands and skin it became more of a sickly pink to an angry red. He never thought that feeling something to fundamentally gross drip onto him would feel to _cleansing_.

But everyone included children.

As he approached the small huddle of tiny humans something clicked in his chest. His throat felt like it was constricting, and it only got worse when one of them started to cry.

They were small, smaller than most of the other children. He almost didn't notice them, their hair was the same color as the blood surrounding them.

Now, watching them cry, Eli felt something deep down. He wasn't sure what it was, of course he wasn't. He had never seen someone cry.

But watching someone fall to tears, especially someone that looked so young, was a trigger for any human. Even if they were supposed to be a battle hardened soldier by the age of seven. Taking that away from him would make him sub-human, merely a robot or a puppet to play with.

Watching that boy sob was the breaking point.

He dropped his knife, approaching with open-turned hands. he knelt down in front of the small boy, carefully reaching up and touching his cheek. Blood was still on his hands, under his nails and staining his skin. It rubbed off of the boy's soft cheek.

But the look Eli got was unforgettable.

They had silvery-blue eyes, full, wide, and bright. Their eyelashes almost made him think he was a girl. Both were glossed with tears. But as soon as he touched them they stopped crying. They just looked at him with a half-parted mouth.

That was the first time Eli looked to the eyes of someone _scared_ of him.

He wasn't able to kill them. He failed the exercise. Especially since there was still a living adult.

He only made one final mistake.

They didn't mind too much that he ran away. He was useless, after all. He was a crying, blabbering, glasses-needing emotional boy that was at this point replaceable.

Meeting Tretij didn't count with running away.

They didn't mean for him to make any allies. They expected him to die by the third week he was out there, whether it would be from starvation or other forces.

They expected even less for him to make a friend.

Looking into Tretij's eyes almost gave Eli whiplash. He could barely see them behind the mask, but now the mask was gone. Nothing left to hide.

Tretij saw him cry, he was him vulnerable. They would see each other vulnerable.

Now that the mask was gone he could see his eyes.

They had silvery-blue eyes, full, wide, and bright. Their eyelashes almost made him think he was a girl. Both were filled with rage. A burning for revenge. But as soon as he touched them they calmed. They just looked at him with a half-parted mouth.

He started smiling, his lips curling away from his teeth. So Tretij did the same.

His mouth twisted up into a broken, ugly smile that pulled at the scars and stitches on his face, the burning back in his eyes.


	7. Character Interview- Eli

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY GUYS, QUICK WARNING: Mentions of rape and child abuse, nothing at all graphic just wanted to put that out there

**1\. why are you so bad at genetics?**

"Excuse me? I know all about genetics you--"

**2\. What did you think of your teammates on FOXHOUND?**

"Well... most of them were hired just because, I needed a team, but when I was forming Sons of Big Boss, there were only a few that would stick by me. So, Wolf, Raven, and Octopus were favorites only second to Mantis."

**3\. What's your biggest secret?**

"I don't keep secrets!"  _"He likes collecting dolls."_ "MANTIS"

**4\. What's your greatest fear?**

"Dying alone."

**5\. What are your religious views?**

"Tell me, do you really believe that I could fear a god?

**6\. Do you think love can bloom on the battlefield?**

"Well yeah, I met my current husband there."

**7\. What do you think is truly, unforgivably evil?**

"Hm.... I would have to say... Abusing your child. Neglect or otherwise. That leaves them... wanting, their whole life. Also rape. Why the hell would anyone do that?"

**8\. How do you measure success?**

"Everything is a win or loose. And I'm no looser."

**9\. What do you think of Sunny?**

"Sunny is the best thing I have ever seen and is the second cutest kid I've ever interacted with.

**10\. Who's the cutest kid you've ever interacted with?**

"Tretij, duh."

**11\. Are you really allergic to shirts?**

"That is the dumbest question I've ever been asked. Yes."

**12\. How gay are you?**

"On a scale of one to ten I am a fifty." 

**13\. Do you approve of your brother's marriage?**

 "I couldn't care less about what happens to either of them. So... yes."

**14\. Is Huey a bastard?**

"Weird metal legs? Oh yeah definitely."

**15\. How honest are you about your feelings?**

"That's for me to know."  _"He either blows it way out of proportion or buries it very deep down."_

**16\. What would you die for?**

"Uh, Mantis and the opportunity to kill Big Boss."

**17\. Is there anyone you wish you knew better?**

"... Out of anyone, I would have to say Miller. Or my old militia." 

**18\. Who do you respect the most?**

"Certainly not you."

**19\. How do you stay satisfied with your relationship when Mantis hates sex so much?**

"A mix of ways. Mostly that I seduce people to get intel."

**20\. Did you really have that bad of a british accent?**

"Uh, it was... exaggerated a little. I did have a pretty bad accent, but not as bad as I made it seem. I thought it would be intimidating."

**21\. How much do you love Mantis?**

"He's the only thing keeping me on this mortal coil at this point."

**22\. Do you find Mantis attractive or do you not care about his appearance?**

"Oh yeah, he's handsome as hell! I actually kinda like his scars, they're unique. Also, it lets people know that he went through some shit and lived. But, I would love him either way."

**23\. Were you ever teased as a child?**

"Well, I mean, when I lived with handlers that were with Cipher, yeah. They would make fun of me every time I fucked up. Even when I didn't fuck up. They were mean."

**24\. If you could change anything about yourself what would you change, if anything?**

"... My hair color."

**25\. Who is your favorite person in the whole world?**

"Was I not obvious enough? Mantis!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I really like these character interview things, if you want me to do more tell me. You can either ask me here or message me on tumblr, my username is solidsnakessolidcakes.


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